by Rick Ansell
I’d been away on my travels and Paul was recovering from a turned ankle so we had both missed the first event in September. I hadn’t really run since mid-July so Paul fancied his chances. I fancied his chances too. On Wednesday I’d been left huffing and puffing on the streets of Tring by Maria and Rhona. Rhona, incidentally, has an interesting approach to hills. I quite like running up hills but they do hurt. My solution is to run slowly to minimise the pain. Rhona sets out to run the hills as fast as possible to get them over and done with and so maximise the pain. I think there is a word for that sort of person.
Anyway, we were whisked up the M1 in cosseted luxury in Paul’s new(ish) car and stopped for chips in Chesterfield. Because the car is new(ish) Paul won’t eat his chips in the car so we stood on the street corner like a couple of hobos to eat them, admiring the view and appreciating the settling frost. Paul had had a burger and kebab and several pints of beer in the Kings Arms the previous evening and I felt the aroma of fish and chips might have improved the atmosphere in the car ….
The event was run from Hayfield and Paul had organised a campsite in the village of Chinley. Tents pitched, we set off for a quick pint in the nearest pub. One, of course, became two and two became three. The beer was particularly enjoyable: Deception for me and Daily Bread for Paul, both from Sheffield’s Abbeydale brewery and I would recommend the pub too if I could remember the name.
The weather forecast had been full of dire warnings of hurricanes and biblical rains but when the morning dawned it was a little breezy and drizzly. Forecasts are never as bad as reality.
There was a mile or so walk up the road from registration to the start and I found myself having to jog to keep up with Paul. I wasn’t encouraged. If I couldn’t even keep up with him on the stroll up the road…
My plan was to be very conservative, get a few points, enjoy being out, try and get the navigation right and not to worry about the result. I set off without my jacket and of course 50m up the track the rain came down and I had to struggle into it while trying to maintain a jog. Richard, Emma Bradbury’s brother-in law- came past and I jogged along chatting to him for as long as I could – probably about 30m.
It took a little while to adjust to the map after not using one for a few months but I got the lines more or less right. There was a cluster of controls at the south end of the map which looked manageable and then we’d see. I picked them off climbing gradually up to the Kinder plateau as I did so. Up on Kinder Edge the wind was certainly brisk. You didn’t always find yourself going the way intended but you weren’t actually being blown off your feet. The rain was mostly just drizzle but every now and again we would be blessed with a torrential pulse.
From Kinder Low trig I headed along the south Edge for a control near Pym’s Chair. Along here I caught up with an old mate from university. Nick used to run for England and was a top of the range orienteer, so I felt pretty chuffed to overtake him. The choice of a next control was obvious but there were two possible routes: straight across the plateau or all the way round the Edge path. Paul, I found later, had taken the long way round. I took a bearing and headed straight across. Nick did the same so I reckoned if a proper orienteer was doing it mine was the better route. I emerged from the fog to find the control at my feet.
Right what next. Nick was going home. I had 67 minutes of my three hours remaining. There was a 50 pointer along the Edge just past Kinder Downfall and then a 40 pointer below beside the evocatively named but horrifically boggy Mermaid’s Pool. Was there time? Below me I had a 20 pointer and then with a bit of a climb I could easily get another. The plan had been to be conservative so I went for safety and dropped off the Edge and headed towards home. Paul, who had started ten minutes before me, found himself in the same spot with about the same time remaining and had opted for the adventure. He got the 50 and 40 but not my two 20s and that was the difference between us. He got back with 7 seconds left. I got back with about 12 minutes to spare. I think his was the right decision. As I had to remind him several times it is a game three halves (but 50 points is a lot to make up over the next two Rounds).
RESULTS
1 Richard Hunt 540 points
(4 Richard Bradbury 500)
45 Paul Terret 320
65 Rick Ansell 280
(77 Nick Lightfoot 260)
136 ran